On December 14, 2005, the President issued Executive Order 13,392, entitled "Improving Agency Disclosure of Information," which established a "citizen-centered" and "results-oriented" approach to administration of the Freedom of Information Act. The Executive Order required each agency to conduct a review of its FOIA operations, to develop an agency-specific plan to improve its administration of the Act, and to include in its annual FOIA report a description of its progress in meeting the milestones and goals established in its improvement plan.

This section of the annual FOIA report contains the RRB's description of its progress in implementing the milestones and goals of the RRB's FOIA Improvement Plan, including highlights of each component's achievements.

The reporting period for Section XII is different from that used for the rest of this report, which is based on data compiled for Fiscal Year 2006. The reporting period for this section concerning Executive Order implementation activities includes progress made by components through January 2007..

Description of supplementation/modification of agency improvement plan (if applicable).

Not applicable.

Report on agency implementation of its plan, including its performance in meeting milestones, with respect to each improvement area.

The RRB has met all of the goals and milestones established in the report it submitted on June 14, 2006, in response to Executive Order 13,392, that were to be completed for this reporting period.

Specifically, the RRB’s implementation of its plan with respect to its chosen improvement areas is as follows:

In the area of affirmative disclosure, the RRB is currently working, through combined efforts of its FOIA staff, Bureau of Information Services and Office of Programs (Policy and Systems), to complete its goal of placing its staff manuals and instructions to staff on its web site by the end of 2007, therefore allowing public dissemination of this required material. Additionally, the RRB examines its web site regularly to insure that Legal Opinions and GILS information are up-to-date.

In the area of overall FOIA web site improvement, the RRB reviews its web site regularly to continue to provide current information and updates as necessary to ensure user-friendly formats and navigation for the public.

In the area of electronic FOIA processing (receiving and responding to request electronically), the RRB is currently working to amend its regulations to permit FOIA requests by fax or email. Additionally, the RRB plans to create a FOIA mailbox to use the Internet as another means of receiving (and in some cases responding to) FOIA requests.

In the area of agency program personnel cooperation, as set forth in the RRB’s FY2006-2007 FOIA Improvement Plan, on December 29, 2006, the RRB met its stated goal of releasing, by the end of calendar year 2006, an “Annual FOIA Awareness Notice” to all RRB employees concerning the disclosure of documents under the FOIA. Our goal in increasing staff understanding of the FOIA process is to further decrease the number of days it takes to respond to a request.

In the area of centralization/decentralization, the RRB is currently working to revise its Administrative Circular, IRM-2, “Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act,” to reflect the recent changes in FOIA responsibility and the new reporting requirements pursuant to Executive Order 13,392. Our goal is to ensure that the RRB has the best, overall FOIA administration structure for effective processing..

Identification and discussion of any deficiency in meeting plan milestones (if applicable).

Not applicable.

Additional narrative statement regarding other executive order-related activities (optional).

Not applicable.

Concise descriptions of FOIA exemptions.

The FOIA provides access to all federal agency records except for those records (or portions of those records) that are protected from disclosure by any of nine exemptions or three exclusions (reasons for which an agency may withhold records from a requester).

The exemptions cover:

• classified national defense and foreign relations information,
• internal agency rules and procedures,
• information that is prohibited from disclosure by another law,
• trade secrets and other confidential business information,
• inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges,
• information involving matters of personal privacy,
• certain information complied for law enforcement purposes,
• information relating to the supervision of financial institutions, and
• geological information on wells.

The three exclusions, which are rarely used, pertain to especially sensitive law enforcement and national security matters.

Additional statistics:

Attachment: Agency improvement plan (in current form).

A copy of the Board's FY 2006-2007 FOIA Improvement Plan is attached